1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording paper cutter, which may be assembled in a receipt-issuing machine mounted on a point-of-sale (POS) terminal for cutting a receipt issued thereby to a predetermined length, and the like, and relates to a recording apparatus including the cutter.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording paper cutter is known from, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,115. The receipt cutter disclosed in this United States patent includes a beaked recording paper guide for guiding a printed roll paper up to a discharge port, and further includes an angled cutting blade having an apex at the center thereof in the width direction of a roll paper, the cutting blade located upstream of the recording paper guide in the feeding direction of the roll paper.
The printed roll paper is fed to the recording paper guide, passes the cutting blade with the direction of curl facing the cutting blade, and is discharged from the discharge port defined by the extreme end of the recording paper guide. The feeding of the roll paper is stopped when the paper protrudes from the discharge port by a certain length. When a person receiving a receipt grasps the extreme end of the roll paper discharged from the discharge port with the fingers and pulls it strongly toward him or her, the roll paper is cut at a right angle in the width direction thereof with the center of the angle cutting blade as the starting point of the cut. The receipt cutter can be simply arranged as described above, and moreover, the roll paper can be cut cleanly by a simple operation of pulling the end of the discharged roll paper.
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording paper cutter capable of cutting a recording roll paper discharged from a discharge port defined at the extreme end of a recording paper guide by pulling the paper toward an operator with less of an operating force.
To achieve this, a recording paper cutter of the present invention includes a recording paper guide for guiding an elongated recording paper; a recording paper cutting blade disposed upstream of the recording paper guide in the feed direction of the recording paper and having a linear blade edge and a serrated blade edge formed at least at an end of the linear blade edge in the width direction of the recording paper; and a discharge port formed on the downstream side of the recording paper guide in the feed direction of the recording paper, wherein at least one end of the discharge port in the feed direction of the recording paper is arranged to expose the recording paper discharged, and the discharge port has a cutout section, by which the recording paper may be grasped, on a side corresponding to the serrated blade edge.
When the serrated blade edges are formed on both ends of the linear blade edge in the width direction of the recording paper, the cutout sections may be formed at positions, which correspond to the respective serrated blade edges, of the opening edge of the recording paper guide at the extreme end thereof.
In the recording paper cutter of this arrangement, the elongated recording paper such as a roll paper and the like is guided by the recording paper guide and reaches the discharge port thereof. When the feeding of the recording paper is stopped, only the portion which corresponds to the cutout section of the extreme end portion of the recording paper can be grasped by the fingers of an operator or the like. When the extreme end portion of the recording paper is held by the operator and is pulled toward the operator, the portion of the recording paper facing the cutting blade is pressed against the serrated blade edge which is formed on the same side in the width direction of the recording paper, and recording paper is cut in its width direction with that portion as the starting point. An edge of the recording paper can be very simply cut by the serrated blade edge, which permits the recording paper to be simply cut by a small operating force.
When the cutout sections are formed on both the sides of the discharge port at the extreme end of the recording sheet guide, an edge of the recording paper is cut first even if a portion of the end of the recording paper exposed from the cutout sections by the serrated blade edge of the cutting blade and the recording paper is cleanly cut with the edge as a starting point.
The discharge port of the recording paper cutter of the present invention may be composed of a lower guide member and an upper guide member and the cutout section may be formed at at least the upper guide member.
The discharge port may include the cutout sections formed at both the upper and lower guide members at positions opposing each other.
A printer of the present invention includes a print mechanism unit; a cabinet; a recording paper guide for guiding a recording paper to the outside of the cabinet; and a recording paper cutter having a recording paper cutting blade, wherein the recording paper cutting blade is disposed upstream in the feeding direction of the recording paper and has a linear blade edge and a serrated blade edge formed at least at an end of the linear blade edge in the width direction of the recording paper, the recording paper guide has a discharge port at the extreme end thereof, and the discharge port has a cutout section on the side thereof which corresponds to at least the serrated blade edge so that the recording paper can be easily cut.
A printer of the present invention includes an accommodating unit for accommodating a paper roll; a print unit for printing the paper pulled out from the accommodating unit; a feeding unit for feeding the paper printed by the print unit toward a discharge port by a predetermined length; a guide unit interposed between the feeding unit and the discharge port for guiding the paper at both surfaces thereof; and a cutter interposed between the guide unit and the feeding unit for cutting the printed paper, wherein a cutout section, through which the printed paper is held, is formed at least at one surface of the guide unit in the vicinity of the discharge port.
The cutter may include a serrated blade edge on the side thereof which corresponds to the cutout section formed at the discharge port.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.